I can't relate to taking the bus in Denver, but it was a God send in San Francisco, same for BART and the trains. Neighborliness is a vital issue. Courtesy must rule. It's also nice to be some what clean when compacted into a bus environment. But some may not have the facilities to do so.

A local problem that I can relate to is the size of the busses in Pueblo, where I live. The city bought large big city busses, which rarely have many people in them. They must have been expensive to buy and maintain. Even Berkeley California, a much larger city than Pueblo, uses small busses and they work just fine.